Explores how some contemporary language usage presents challenges for technical editing and how awareness of language theory can help students expand their context for (and critically assess) current editing textbook advice on language choice. Discusses what editors and teachers of editing can do to help produce technical documents that address…

Argues that learning to investigate students' language holds great promise as an avenue of assessment. Shows what the stories of three second-grade students reveal about their beliefs regarding both reading and language growth. Discusses how students define for themselves who readers are and what readers can do. (SR)

Claims that participants in computer-mediated "chat" (CMC) produce a kind of hybrid text. Stresses the importance of investigating the individual texts and writing practices of each participant in CMC studies to better understand what occurs when language users bring individual cognitive, social, and contextual factors with them to a…

Compares differences in quality of relationships between immigrant parents and their adolescents (N=620) as a function of the languages with which they speak to each other. Adolescents who reported they and their parents mutually communicated in the same language indicated having greater cohesion and discussion with their parents than adolescents…

This study seeks to understand American Sign Language (ASL) as heterogeneous communication and to use it as a model for developing in other modalities alternative heterogeneous communication systems with the same advantages. (26 references) (CK)

This article presents a replication of a study by Chaudron and Parker (1990) on the effect of discourse markedness and structural markedness on the development of noun phrase use. The study analyzed the language usage of 55 young adult Spanish learners of English, finding that only intermediate and high-level learners used zero anaphora. Contains…

Among both first- and second-generation immigrant groups in New Zealand and Australia, women maintain the ethnic language (EL) longer than men. Compared with men's networks, women's networks encourage more extensive use of EL in social interactions, and women value the social and affective functions expressed by EL. (Contains 71 references.…

Four terms central to the dialog about ethics are defined and differentiated: ethics; morality; justice; and law. Several problems in understanding the terms are identified, including differences between the classical and current meanings, common but inappropriate usages, confusion of one term for another, and merging of terms in common usage.…

Presents a summary of a case study of the Machiguenga of the Peruvian Amazon, who have reached a relatively high level of literacy 40 years after receiving a written alphabet. Identifies sociological and educational factors contributing to literacy acquisition and retention. Notes that the program has noticeably increased the people's self-esteem…

Reviews "Writing the Rural," five "cultural geographies" by Paul Cloke, Marcus Doel, David Matless, Martin Phillips, and Nigel Thrift that focus on proliferating meanings of "rural" and on understanding the "rural" as something fashioned by both rural residents and various outside actors. Highlights the…

Offers a theoretical perspective on how and why different ways of talking about text can be so important for helping readers develop and for learning to read literature. Details a model of language use within the classroom and considers implications of the model for the instruction and assessment of language and literacy. (SR)

Monolingual Spanish-speaking children between the ages of 2 and 4 were given two structured tasks that assessed the contrastive use of "se" for coding these functions. Results suggest there is a differential order of acquisition of the clitic "se," whereby children initially contrast regular and reflexive with nonreflexive…

Considers how textual and digital visual worlds come together to create new ways of thinking about text and the nature of representation. Compares the graphic space of the printed page and the digital space of screen displays. Argues that each of these two mediums supports a distinctive yet vital way of thinking and that neither can be dispensed…

Proposes questions teachers can use to structure language activities that encourage students to analyze their own use of language. The questions arose from a workshop that focuses on assisting teachers and learners to explore language function together. Teachers can use these questions to exploit language in English as a Second or Other Language…

Reviews recent theoretical and empirical literature regarding teachers' uses of the target (TL) and first languages (L1) in second and foreign language classrooms. Explores several issues related to teachers' use of the L1 and the TL in the classroom; exposure to TL input, student motivation, cognitive considerations, code switching, and…